Seasons:

The big sea-run brown trout start to return to the pools of the Rio Grande in significant numbers around Thanksgiving.

Less than a month later the river is loaded with fish and it is estimated that by the first day of each New Year, nearly 80% of the escapement has reached their annual family reunion. That translates into more than a thousand monster trout per river mile. The fish initially herd up in the best lower river pools, though hundreds more of the silver sea trout continue to pour into the Rio Grande on every high tide, twice a day until sometime in May. The most sought after dates are February and March, the center and most pleasant part of the short, near-Antarctic summer.

Because the most productive week of the season shifts ever year and can’t be consistently targeted on the calendar, the best time to be on the Rio Grande is unpredictable. But it’s all good! Consider that thousands of these huge fish are caught each season, yet when population studies are compared to accurate catch records, it’s clear that a surprisingly small number of the fish present (which don’t actively feed after they return to the river) actually end up being hooked. What triggers their aggressive behavior and when it happens is arguable, but what can’t be challenged is that every week on the Rio Grande can be, and usually is phenomenal.

Time your Trip for January, February, March, or the first two weeks of April. While mid-season offers the most pleasant weather, the best weeks ever recorded have been the last weeks of the season. Randy Berry and his friends from Teton Valley Lodge once averaged 53 fish per rod during what some consider to be the most difficult week of the Tierra del Fuego summer.

Early season fish are very aggressive, full of fight, and acrobatic. They move readily to dries, and three of the largest sea trout ever recorded were caught and released in January. The most productive weeks of the season shifts each year and can’t be consistently targeted on the calendar. The best week to be on the Rio Grande is whichever best suits your schedule. In fact, when the weather cooperates, nearly every day of the season is good!

Geography of the Rio Grande

Though most of the Rio Grande is on the Chilean side of the border, nearly 80% of the prime spawning habitat and all of the Rio Grande’s best fishing is on the Argentina portion of the island, much of it in the first 45 miles above where the river enters the sea.

The fences of Maria Behety surround hundreds of square miles of grazing land and this huge estancia borders nearly 32 miles on the north bank of the river. The estancia alternates daily the use of more than 50 kilometers (102 pools) with the three lodges on the opposite side of the Rio Grande in a friendly and well-organized rotation that insures a quality, private fly fishing experience for everyone.

The lodges on the opposite, southern riverbank are Despedida, Kau Tapen, and Villa Maria (part of Kau Tapen). The upstream estancias separating Maria Behety and Kau Tapen from nearby Chile border increasingly shallow pools, more marginal spawning habitat, and fewer and fewer sea trout. Resident brown and rainbow trout fishing in the tributaries and the Rio Grande headwaters is excellent.

The maximum combined occupancy of all the Rio Grande lodges between the Atlantic Ocean and the Chilean border is about 50 anglers. That’s an average of nearly a mile of private water for every single fisherman.

Meteorologists officially classify the island of Tierra del Fuego as a subpolar oceanic climate. Summers in Tierra del Fuego are short, dry and relatively cool while winters are long, wet, and moderate. The northeast, where the Rio Grande resides, is characterized by strong winds and little precipitation while the south and west (Ushuaia) it is very windy, foggy, and wet for most of the year, and there are very few days without rain, slush, hail or snow. Regions in the world with similar climates to southern Tierra del Fuego include the Aleutian Islands, Iceland and the Alaska Peninsula.

Climate Information for Rio Grande

• Geographic position 53º 46' S / 67º 42' W
• Temperatures Annual mean temperature 5.5ºC 41.9ºF
• July mean temperature -0.2ºC 31.64ºF
• January mean temperature 10.1ºC 50.18ºF
• Highest summer temp. (1992) 23.9ºC 75.2ºF
• Lowest winter temperature (1992) -16.7ºC 1.94ºF
• Wind Quadrant W
• Average speed 30 km/h 18.64 mph
• Highest speed 200 km/h 124.27 mph
• Annual mean relative humidity 55%
• Annual rainfall (including snowfall) 330 mm 12.99 inches
• Annual sea surface mean temperature 7 ºC 44.6ºF
• Daylight length winter 7 h 36 min
• Daylight summer 17 h 05 min